Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The Simplicity of Jesus's Birth


Isaiah 53:1-12

New King James Version (NKJV)

Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they[a] made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul,[b] and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.



Luke 2:12-17
New King James Version (NKJV)
12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”[a]
15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely[b] known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.
 
Merry Christmas my loving Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus. The above verses from both the Old and New Testament tell us of the coming ,and birth, of our Savior, There are so many lessons for us to learn in just these two verses, life changing lessons, but  for me as a loving daughter of Christ, these verses teach us humility, and that judgment of others was not meant for us, but for our awesome God. 
 
Many humankind believe that the Creator of the universe would come in all His glory and change the earth into a land of milk and honey, He would come with riches and the best of all things, the way we as humans view things. But no, He was born to a regular family, in a barn filled with animals, placed in a food bin for cows, Really? Yes.
 
How amazing is our God? He wanted us to know right from the beginning that only He sees all things. We judge people by their clothes, cars, homes, schools, jobs, that first impression, what's the expression we're all told at some point in our lives, " You only get one shot at a first impression." Shameful really, and can be quite scary, and dangerously deceptive.
 
For it's our Hearts the Lord judges, and it should be what we look at when we see a person, but most of the times, in many areas of human life it isn't the first but the last thing we notice.
 
For instance we pass a homeless person on the street and we think, 'what a waste and a pity?"  Why? There are so many people who have lived or do live on the street because of circumstances beyond their control. Not because they abused a substance, but perhaps it was because they were being abused, and the street was better than being beat or worse. Not everyone has family or people willing to take them in, times are tough.


Than you see the man or woman who are CEO's, or Actor's, or Athlete's, making millions and millions, some give back from their hearts, but how often do we hear things that shock us, and make us shake our heads, because we have made them role models, only to find out that their motives were for self gratification, even when they chose to give. Our Lord gives an awesome example of this in:

Mark 12:41-44

New King James Version (NKJV)

The Widow’s Two Mites

41 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. 42 Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites,[a] which make a quadrans. 43 So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”
 
You see, it's not how much we have of anything, it is what we do with what we have that matters. What is the motive behind our actions? Are they sincerely from our heart? Or are they to build a façade to hide behind, to disguise what is truly missing from our heart? 
 
The birth, life, and death of our Lord Jesus paid our sin debts in full, It allowed us to be saved by God's grace, filled with The Holy Spirit, so that our Lord could use our bodies as lights for the path's of our feet, so that we may walk in obedience to Him, When we do that, when we have a heart like Jesus, loving, forgiving, non-judging, than it is crystal clear to those who have lost their way, for those who may not have known about our Lord, to see Him and want to run into His loving arms.
 
I pray this Celebration of the birth and life of our Lord inspires us all to be non-judging and obedient servants, so that our Lord may continue to use us, working through us to bring His sheep home. May we all share the love of our lives, with a new found zeal, witnessing and giving testimony in Jesus name, and being a true Saint of Christ, working as one body, to build His church until His return, to bring us home.
 
God has a will, plan and purpose for every one of us. My Christmas prayer is that we all see that plan for our lives and keep our eyes open for all the gifts and blessings He has placed on our path's for the upcoming year. May we all follow that plan until our last breath, when we will be greeted by our Loving Father, I lift this and all petitions up in the blood and name of our Savior Jesus Christ amen.
 
I usually write a poem for the week but I want the words of our Lord to be the last thing we keep on our hearts, so I will close by wishing you and all of your loved ones a Blessed Christmas, may it be filled with love, joy, peace, and wisdom. Safe travels everyone. God bless, love, hugs, and prayers Patricia xoxox 

 

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